Devil is in the details of Gov. Strickland's budget

Gov. Ted Strickland's budget calls for a significant overhaul to how the state spends its money.
Strickland, a Democrat formerly of Lisbon, is proposing sweeping changes to the funding of public school education, the state's tax system, its state higher education, placed a moratorium on charter schools and wants to invest 250 million annually for four years on alternative and renewable energy programs.
Most of Strickland's proposals received cool receptions from the Republicans who control the state House and Senate.
Strickland is already defending himself against Republican criticism that his proposals are nothing more than gimmicks.
As legislators on both sides of the political aisle told me after Strickland's State of the State address, the devil's in the details. Strickland said the state has the money to make these major changes. The Republicans aren't so sure, and even if the money could be found, the majority party isn't interested in a lot of what Strickland is proposing.
That's going to create quite the problem in the coming months as the state adopts its two-year budget.
Bills introduced in the House and the Senate to adopt many of Strickland's proposals are going to face opposition.
GOP power
The Republicans have the votes to reject anything they don't like. But they may have a problem in the House -- where Republicans have a 53-46 majority -- if a few of their own stray from the party line.
The concern isn't as dire for Republicans in the Senate because they control the legislative body 21-12.
But on the flip side, Strickland has the power to line-item veto anything he doesn't like passed in the Legislature.
Democrats had a pathetic showing in state Senate races last year, picking up only one Republican seat in a year that saw the party make huge strides on the state and national levels. But that one pick-up could be key.
The Senate needs a two-thirds majority, 22 votes, to override any Strickland vetoes. Senate Democratic leadership said they strongly back the governor's initiatives and he needn't worry about his vetoes being overturned by the legislative body.
Strickland realizes he's in for a fight.
Strickland received his third of 18 standing ovations during his State of the State address after saying his two-year budget increases state spending by 2.2 percent annually. He then said it might be the last time Republicans stood up and applauded what he said.
He was pretty close.
When Strickland spoke of eliminating the school voucher program, except in Cleveland, Democrats stood and applauded loudly while Republicans sat.
Strickland said it reminded him of President Bush's State of the Union address that saw Republicans stand up and cheer for a variety of statements made by the Republican president while Democrats sat quietly.
There were a few times that a Republican stood up, realized he was the only one and sat back down. After a while, those Republicans wised up. They looked around and didn't stand until other Republicans did.
While the state budget calls for about 53 billion in funding it could stand to spend a few bucks to better train those handling security detail at the State of the State address and improve overall security at the Statehouse.
You have to go through metal detectors to walk into nearly every government building in this state, but you could just stroll around the Statehouse with no problem.
Also, while numerous state police officers were in the House chambers during the State of the State, security wasn't tight.
This is the perfect example: Robert Wasko, Mahoning County Board of Elections director and a funeral home owner, didn't have a ticket to the speech. Not only did he get in to the House chambers, but he spotted me in the front of the room [off to the side in a restricted media-only area] and thought it was a good spot to see the speech.
He is correct. It is a great view. He and I enjoyed it together because no one bothered to check to see if he was a member of the media.